Stories from Bovina's Cemeteries – "Our Pastor, Rev. Robert Laing"

Reverend Robert Laing, the first pastor of what later became the Bovina United Presbyterian Church, is buried in the Associate Presbyterian Church cemetery on Reinertsen Hill Road.  Laing was a native of Scotland, born a few miles from the city of Perth in 1750.  He was the minister for a congregation in Dunse in Southern Scotland for eight years.  He was removed from his charge by the Presbytery; the reason why has not been provided.  In 1795, he came to the United States and was employed as a minister almost as soon as he landed.  Laing had three pastorates in America:  Buffalo, Pennsylvania; South Argyle, New York and finally, Bovina.

Laing’s availability for Bovina came as a result of his being removed as pastor of Argyle.  He was accused of being intoxicated on August 26, 1810 - a charge to which he readily confessed.  After being rebuked by the Presbytery the matter was considered closed, but apparently his congregation disagreed and in January 1811 members requested dissolution of his pastorate, “alleging that his usefulness was at an end.” 

Laing came to Bovina in 1814 and was pastor for nine years.  The congregation was happy to have a pastor, having gone its first five years without one.  The History of the Presbytery of Argyle, published in 1880, noted that after nine years “offence and trouble must needs come, as in Argyle, and on the 8th of May, 1823, he was rebuked and suspended from the ministry by the Presbytery.”  His relationship with the congregation was dissolved a month later.  A year after that, Laing was restored to membership in the Presbytery but he did not attempt to find another pastorate, instead staying in Bovina for the rest of his days.  The specific reasons he was removed as pastor are not provided.  In his autobiography, Laing’s successor, John Graham, noted that eight years from the time Mr. L was ordained among them had scarcely expired, when the Presbytery found it necessary to loose him from his charge and declare the pulpit vacant. More about this unpleasant affair I do not feel at liberty to speak, as I do not deem it would be for general edification to rake up the ashes of those fires which once burned so hot, but which are now happily put out, I trust forever.”

The Bovina pulpit was vacant for nine years, possibly because Laing made it too hard for any prospective candidate.  Graham reported that “young men were afraid of preaching before such a critic as Mr. L. and that he did all that lay in his power to terrify and drive them away.”  When Laing heard that the congregation was ready to call a new minister “he was sure to go . . . and ‘examine the laddie’s quilts’ and then went to certain quarters, where, as he said, he ‘tore them a’ to tatters.’”

This was not Graham’s experience, however.  He said Laing was very accommodating and often would help with the dispensing of communion.  Laing was last able to help with communion around 1835 when he was 85 years old.  He became too infirm to attend services for the last four years of his life, though he was kept apprised of what was going on in Bovina and in the Associate Presbyterian Church in general.  He died on 29th of May, 1839.

His obituary, published by the Associate Synod of North America in its Religious Monitor and Evangelical Repository for June 1839, said that “to say that Mr. Laing was entirely free of vanity, that his own natural temper never involved him in difficulties, or obtained the ascendency over his judgment, or that in a debate he felt not desire to tease and vanquish an opponent, is what none of his friends will maintain.  But though he was not without his faults and failings, yet these, we are disposed to believe, were too often magnified...  A conviction of this, and a sense of his innocence when called upon in Presbytery to face his accusers, tended to rouse his mind and summon all his powers to defend himself ... not only with strong arguments, but with sharp, pointed and poignant sarcasm, so that he caused to lie prostrate before him...the questionable testimony of prejudiced witnesses,... or, to use a favourite phrase of his, ‘he cut them all to pieces.’  He often said that he had been a man of war from his youth, and was determined to die with his face to the enemy; but long before he left this world of troubles, he changed his sentiments, and put on the bowels of forgiveness, patience, meekness, and love.  For these two years past he was never heard to speak a world unfavorable even of those whom he thought had injured him.”

This obituary noted that Laing as a preacher was unusually popular.  He had a “strong, well-regulated voice” and “a dignified appearance.”  It was also said that “He failed not to attract the attention, and gain the affections of the people wherever he was sent to preach.”  The members of the Bovina congregation certainly held him in high regard - he was buried within feet of where he once preached to the enthralled members of the Association Presbyterian Church of Bovina congregation.  This stone, however, was not erected until over 20 years after Laing's death, possibly replacing an earlier one.  In January 1858, the session voted to erect a monument to the memory of Rev. Laing.  The stone was purchased by pastor and moderator, James B. Lee, at the end of 1859 and likely was erected in the spring of 1860.  By the time the stone was erected, the name of the church had changed to the United Presbyterian Church of Bovina.  This is reflected in the inscription on the stone.

As can be seen in the accompanying photograph, courtesy of Ed and Dick Davidson, the top of the stone in large letters says ‘Our Pastor’  As well as providing his name and death date, it notes that he was the "First pastor of the U.P. Church, Bovina, New York" and that he died in his 89th year and the fifty-second of his ministry. At the bottom, partially cut off by the concrete base that obviously was added later is a verse from the King James version of the Bible, 2 Thessalonians 2:5:  "Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you [of] these things?" 

Gladstones and Biggars Clash with the Bovina A.P. Church

On July 10, 1834, Thomas Gladstone, the son of Robert Gladstone and Ann Ray was married to Margaret Biggar, daughter of Robert Biggar and Margaret Kyle. Part of the wedding celebration included dancing at the home of the groom's father, Robert Gladstone. The people involved with this celebration, including both fathers of the couple, found themselves in hot water with the elders of the Bovina Associate Presbyterian Church Session. This clash led to people choosing dancing over membership in the church.

The Associate Presbyterian Church had held that dancing was "contrary to the principles of our Church and the solemn obligation Christians come under both at Baptism and at the Lord’s Table." It was considered to be a violation of the seventh commandment concerning adultery and was seen as corrupting the morals of youth and exposing them to temptation. In April 1834, it was noted by the Bovina session that several families belonging to the Congregation held dances the previous winter and "enticed young people to join with them in their folly." The Elders made it very clear that anyone found encouraging dancing would be dealt with according to the rules of the church.

So when word reached elders within days of the Gladstone/Biggar wedding that there had been dancing, two elders were appointed to converse with Robert Gladstone about this. Gladstone dutifully came to the September 11 session meeting but instead of professing sin and requesting forgiveness, as was usual in most cases, he clashed with the moderator, Reverend John Graham. He "spoke in a very unbecoming and insulting manner" to the reverend. Graham tried to explain to Gladstone why allowing dancing at his son's wedding was sinful and to show him passages of scripture and the statement in the church's book of discipline concerning dancing. Gladstone became angry and, exclaiming "superstition, superstition,' stormed out of the meeting. The elders decided they better talk to everyone involved with the dancing at the wedding.

Twelve people were summoned to the October 25 session meeting to answer to the charge of dancing. Several members of the Gladstone family came, including Robert and his wife Ann, their son Thomas, and their new daughter-in-law, Margaret. Several of the guests came, including Archibald Elliott and his wife, Walter Oliver, Thomas Scott and Betsy Turnbull. Also attending was the bride's father, Robert Biggar. When each person was asked whether he or she "preferred church privileges to dancing," all answered that they would not give up dancing. Biggar handed in a paper entitled "A Scriptural Warrant for Dancing." The session read it and considered that it contained "perversions of scripture." The elders agreed that these persons and others who felt the same about dancing would be kept back from communion in the church.

Dancing at the Gladstone wedding was again discussed at the session's next meeting on December 2, 1834. The elders interviewed the fathers of the couple, as well as the groom's brother Walter (who had married Isabella Biggar, another of Robert's daughters). Robert Biggar again tried to prove from scripture that "dancing was a duty and promise unto the church." Since the church made avoidance of dancing a term of communion, Biggar and Walter Gladstone, along with John Murray, asked to have their names taken off the church rolls and to have their church certificates returned to them. The request was denied. Without these certificates, the people making the request could not join another church.

Biggar continued to battle the Bovina A.P. Church. He wrote a letter critical of Reverend Graham and the elders, claiming that he was unjustly denied church privileges. He wanted to take communion but would not agree that dancing was wrong. The session said that neither he nor any of the other members under censure for dancing could be admitted to communion.

It is unfortunate at this point that there is over a year long gap in the session minutes - the elders either did not meet or did not keep minutes for any meetings that were held. Future minutes make no further reference to this specific case, though the Bovina AP Church and its successor, the Bovina United Presbyterian Church, continued to rail against 'promiscuous dancing' for pretty much the rest of the 19th century.

It appears that most of the people involved with this wedding who lost their membership in the Bovina Associate Presbyterian Church did not get it back, though whether that was by their choice is not clear. Reverend Graham, in his autobiography, noted that "some ten heads of families along with their children left us, and united with another denomination" over the issue of dancing. He likely was recalling this specific instance, among others.

In an 1866 list of present and past members, Robert Gladstone is listed as a past member, along with his year of death (he died in 1858, age 80). His two sons (Thomas and Walter) and their wives are listed as removed, as is the father of brides, Robert Biggar. Biggar died in 1867, age 84. Walter Gladstone died in Andes when he was only 51 in 1861. His wife was 55 when she died eight years later. The couple whose wedding started all the controversy were married for almost 52 years. Thomas Gladstone was 77 when he died in Andes in 1886. His wife Margaret survived him by 6 years, dying in 1892.

PS - A little side note: Robert Biggar's great granddaughter Jennie lived in my house in the 1930s for a brief spell as a lodger when she lost her own home in a sheriff's sale. She died in the house in my back bedroom in 1938.